Field of the Invention
Various solutions have been put forward for uniting horological parts, which display the solar time, with indicators for the times of the high and low tides. The majority of the solutions which have been put forward contain a hand which turns on a secondary dial and which indicates the time at which the high tide and/or low tide must take place. This is the case, for example, of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,677,928, 3,524,313, 3,708,971 and 4,014,163. Another solution includes the placing a hand in the center, like the other hands, and controlling it through a gear whose reduction causes this hand to make one turn during the time corresponding to the period between two high tides. This is the case, for example, of U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,163.
The inconvenience of the first solution lies in the fact that indication of the time at which the particular tide must take place is not very evident and the reader must refer to the solar time in order to mentally calculate the time remaining until the next particular tide. In the case where a small secondary dial is used, the aesthetic appearance is also somewhat debatable. As for the second solution, which is undoubtedly clearer to read, it nonetheless has the disadvantage that it could possibly lead to confusion between, on the one hand, the hands indicating the hours, minutes and seconds, and on the other, the hand indicating the tides.
The present invention aims to providing a timing mechanism with a clearly readable tide indicator, the reading of which cannot be confused with that of the hours, minutes and seconds, and which immediately and visually indicates the time left to run until the next tide. Moreover, the present invention aims at providing a mechanism which gives the phases of the moon at the same time as the cycles of the tides.